Friday, August 21, 2009

She was too young to meet a doctor. Today Bhumika was with me for eye checkup. Sometime I think I should learn Kannada because talking with these kids are too tough. Some grown up, manage English but small kids like Bhumika(7 year age) are too small for English even. Too young to learn anything other than smiling/crying.

It was not different from other day, then Vikram, my office colleague told me, "enjoy weekend". "Oh, weekends about to start" nice to know. I was on leave from last 2 days, many of us actually and its more worth than writing code or playing cricket at office. Today we have taken 13 kids for detailed eye check at Shekar Netralaya. They already visited the school last month and finalized 38 kids who can be operated further. Like previous day, we didn't get a cab/bus to put the kids at Shekar Netralaya. It is around 1.5 Kms from school. We decided to take the kids by walk but if you want to avoid main road it will be more than 2 kms. 7 out of 13 were bare feet...

Asking them, they said that they feel it better that way. Changing an existing system is tougher than adding a new system. It was not good for their health to walk like this but that was not a right time to give lecture. We moved, its regret to know that many people don't use brake of their bike in Bangalore in any case. I decided to do it 1-by-1, rather than telling our bikers to stop.

Hospital was crowded. For doctors also this is NGO work and so they can't disturb the flow of their normal patient. Kids got the chair to sit at least. To one of the excited kids Ravi Kiran, I asked "you want water". He replied "juice sir, it's hospital na". Finally the treatment started. And its hard time to listen new stories. Total of 3 cases, where it was a genetic problem. Marriage in same blood like with Cousin or relative, leads to this problem. What doctor sir explained me was - "getting married in same blood cause this problem at a dominant level. Maybe either his mother or father has this problem but not prominent but the next generation effect is very prominent. Lot of research is going on but we don't have any solid solution yet. "

Finally we got 4 kids, for whom vision can be little improved by glasses of power like +11, +10. Bhumika case was different from all of them. Her eyes are normal but brain connection with eyes never grown up. Can't do much. Research is going on ! One doctor was abusing us, that why you came for checkup now. You know its too late for many of them. "Even for some, it is corneal problem which can be rectified but now their retina are too weak to see anything. If your retina will not work for 10 years, how it should be". Hmmm.... correct ! Some got cataract which can be operated and removed. But again their retina are weak and so vision will not be improved more than 20-25 percent.

I am not writing this blog for any sympathy but just to inform that minor mistakes can lead to a severe problem. Out of 23, there were 4 cases, in which parents screwed up the eyes because kids claimed some irritation in eyes and they put some wrong eye drop/wrong medical treatment. Now, they are crying and why not they left with that option only. 4 cases, where marriage led to this problem. Take care !!

If you have any kid in your surrounding who has vision problem, don't wait even for a day. Immediate checkup is required. Eye power go down with a high pace. If someone die in your surrounding, request their relatives to donate his/her eyes. It's more worthy than what he had done in his whole life. God will definitely bless heaven to him.

Lets give a try before concluding that trying this is not worth. 15 still more to go !

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

It was more than a year, I traveled somewhere for fun. Our gang decided to have one. Where, was not a big question because we had our tripping expert Srikanth. Srikanth decided to have Chikamagalore(Hunkal Woods is around 40 minutes more) and hit the highest pick of Karnataka. Final calculation let only 9 people ready for trip. Last trip of Wayanard(an year back), was awesome and I was expecting this to be cool as well. Before this trip, I bought a Canon 1000D. I am still busy in doing the correct settings :).

PS: I am writing this blog for fun and feeling, not for providing information about the place.

7.30 AM : We reached the resort, it was completely awesome. After lot of fun like rope climbing, rather rope breaking :), table tennis and a cup of coffee, everyone got ready for trekking. We did the deadly breakfast and made the move. Trekking started with fun and fear. Fear of leeches ! Soon the trek became tough with steep climbing and sooner tougher because the path was through the water fall. Leeches were coming into picture but we had much bigger things to worry about. Soon we hit the pick. From this picture, you can see the trekking path.

Luckly moving down, it was a different path. I was talking with Srikanth about other trekking experience and he was explaining the team work, which was so true. It was all about patience, team effort and caring. Running fast is immaterial when the slowest person of your team decides your win. It's better to help that person to speed up rather than speeding up your run. We covered the whole path(up and down) in 5 hrs.

4.00 PM: Got ready for lunch. Finishing it, we joined for some game like Badminton, Cricket, Football. None of us were tired or may be so much tired that they didn't want a rest. Soon it was a lovely night with lots of star in sky. We put the bonfire. Care taker of that place started with some ghost stories but all were bogus and boring. Soon, we had finished our dinner and got ready for ...

10.30 PM: For another trek :). Wow, a night trek, sounds interesting ! Luckily all of us was ready for this. We took 2-3 massal, 2 torch and made the move again. It was supposed to be a short trek but how short, we didn't have any clue. I keep on moving with Vivek Anna's jokes. After sometime, we encountered the hunters who were looking for animal and told us to get back which was a reasonable suggestion. Back to home at 12.00 night. Some more talk and everyone went to bed.

Day 1 over.

Day 2: Nothing much to write. I wake up at 7.45 AM. Though we had to leave the place at 8.00, no one was in real hurry. Got some more time to play football and badminton. Finally we decided to move for Belur. It was supposed to be my second trip to Belur. But I enjoyed it second time as well. It took more than 100 years to complete it and why not. Art work is silently speaking about everything of that place.

Finally I am back at home with lot of wounds, cuts and fun ! "The biggest risk is to not take any.... ".

Friday, August 07, 2009

Learning at an age of 26 is tough. Because most of the time mind is in semi-learn state and for a semi-matured mind its tough to deny what you know(wrong or right). Let me explain you by an example.

If you are one of the frequent readers of this blog, you got to know that my English is pathetic. I do, on and off common mistakes in writing. WHY ? This is how I developed myself. But now, I am in a state from where unlearning and relearning is almost impossible for me. Not only this, when someone correct me, my first reaction is ... "this piece of junk don't have any work to do, read the content, why he is worrying about my grammar". Nothing wrong because this is how you(here I) developed yourself. After listening so many times, good blog, good blog, your mindset is very obvious. Oh, this guy is reading my blog, okay, he will say it's a good post. And certainly you will listen "your grammar usages are not correct", Ah "Go to Hell", an obvious reaction. Learning is tough and unlearning is toughest....

Ego - is it ego. No idea, but nothing wrong in respecting someone's ego. Ego is nothing - he has done something, may be in past, and he want to say, I know this(may be he don't know). Great, respect his work ! Ego is just a by-product of success, just what we call "superiority complex".

If you are smart, you will reply me "your blog is awesome, just a small correction is required here". Now saying this, you are showing that you take care of others feeling(so called ego) and you are not egoist yourself to be the best English maker of world.

Time is game. Someone replied you and if it hurt your feeling(have wrong feeling for right thing is ego), time play an important factor. If you have given your self no time, and replied it back. Your reply will be something like this "You piece of s**t, don't try to tell me what is wrong and what is right". Since we don't have guts to write like this, we write it in a nice ironical fashion. But if you have given yourself 2 min of time, you will reply "thank you". Now this "thank you" is deadly again. Because you have replied something else and something else is going in your mind. You are holding your anger for a long time. In most of the time it will simply disrupt all your work for a while. Hmm.. what to do.

I really don't have a good solution for it(please give if you have). But most effective way to outcome - 3rd party involvement. We get a 3rd man, who support your feeling and he will explain you "Arre, that guy is idiot, man, why you are listening him". Oh, you suddenly feel, 2 person(you, 3rd party) are thinking that he is an idiot. Good, good ! This is funny, but most effective way, which we all do !

Talk - its such a funny thing. It decide whom you like and whom you hate. Not only that, at a particular instance, you are liking someone or hating someone.

Oh man, I am writing lot of common sense stuff, don't know why. But something need to come out which stuck at my mind. Unlearning is tough than learning and tougher as age grow. So, get you kids learn good things at early age :), so that unlearning will be minimal.

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

It was a big day for us. We were waiting for some result that can change life(s). I had already put leave mail, thanks to Sun culture where no one bothers about leave. But lot of our friends/volunteers already fought for their leave and made it possible, hats off ! Some committed to work in early morning, some committed to night shift but they made the day worth. It was an eye camp for the kids of SRMAB(Shree Ramana Maharishi Academy for the Blind) and an important day for us.

Doctor had done their setup and we were all ready to control the flow of kids. Only one agenda - was he/she curable or not !! I was not there with any expectation but I could listen some "even if 10 kids can be cured, its a good number". I had done all these pre-maths last night with the conclusion that if things were not in control, wish for the best. Volunteers were all ready for the action. Faculties of SRMAB were ready to help and taken the work to get the kids from different classes. Principal sir has given their own big hall for checkup, so nice ! He is one of the most concerned person when it comes to student's health or treatment.

Dr. Smitha started with her examination. Before that, one doctor did the initial checkup. Like, he examined the eyes with torch light. If eyes motion exist on torch light that means retina is fine. If retina is not fine means eye problem can't be cured. Everyone has to go through the main treatment after primary treatment. For some, there were no eyes. For other some, there retina were completed damaged. Doctor Madam told us that most of them have mechanical injuries or severe infection. For other some, eyes were too small... God "some break is required". In break, God given 38 those kids out of 118 who can be verified/cured(chance) further.

One of the senior members who was Managing Director of Shekar Netralaya was explaining us other things related with this event. He was telling that eye donation is still weak in our country and I am requesting you guys also that whenever you go on any funeral, try to convey the family for eye donation. Eye can be donated in next 6 hrs of death and its best to keep the eye close and put some ice-cube over it. This will keep cornea safe for long time. He further explained that even you can go for Lasik treatment to remove your specs. Lasik operation, now a days can be done in 15 seconds and overall a day treatment. Adding further, he said "these days we do one or more lasik operation per day".

I got the chance to meet my old students, Renuka, Sheela, Kaushik. Renuka said that she was ill from 17 days. Her eyes...hmm it was different from my prediction. Doctor said her eyes could be further checked, that means some hope is still left. They are the most intelligent kids of SRMAB at least in Computers , just because they can't see completely and so they don't bother to know whats going on screen. Mouse and screen are two useless part of computer for them.It was a great day with full of knowledge, good hope, some disappointment and fun with the kids on weekday. Our game plan for next action is all set and we need to put that in zero time. Losing vision in many times is a gradual process which can be checked with proper medication.

Sunday, August 02, 2009

Sometime, things not go in a way you want it to be. Yeah, but it was too early to predict and give up. For a change, I took an auto for my weekend work. Near Jayanagar signal(Bangalore), I see one guy coming out from opposite side near red light. By face, he was looking like a software engineer. Like a beggar, he was asking money in bus, in auto, 4 wheeler(beggar don't expect much with 2 wheeler guys, nice !). Little surprising, me and auto guy both starring at him. Not bothered to go into more detail. 100 meter ahead on next red light(yes, Jayanagar, 4th block market has 3 signals all 100 meters apart), there was a girl busy in same business. Decent Girl ...

She was also demanding money. Auto guy told me "that both are in relation and they are very rich, richer than me". He added "they stay near by". Before I asked anything, he added further "weekend per paisa maangta hai(They are begging at weekends)". I had no words to add, I just said "awesome". No one can jusify begging, neither a blind nor a deaf. Its not about losing a part of body, it's about losing only one part - mind. By the way, they were justifying it, weekend part time.. not bad !

We had planned for a test in our seva shishu aasram. It went OK, my expectation was much higher. We are missing something, still the performance of students were not upto mark. Something is missing, something is wrong... I am not able to find out. They are doing ok and its too early to expect...

We were discussing something after the class, outside the campus. A man entered with his wife and a kid. Kid..hmm 2-3 years of age I guess. Ajay(one of us) told that they came to put this kid in this orphange home. I said no. Most of the kids they got from police or from hospital. But he was right. After some talk, that guy was back with his "so called" family. Started speaking something in Kannada and I said Vivek(one of us). Vivek explained us later that his 2 kids are already here and they(Orphange) refused to take 3rd. The man("so called" man) was telling that I drink a lot and I will die in 2-3 months, so I was requesting them to take this kid". I had nothing to say except "awesome". I remembered the new pulsar ad "I am the Man..."